Friday, March 23rd: "Re-Generation"

I’ve been helping out with my international church’s youth group, “Re-Generation,” for over a month now. This has been by far the most rewarding of my endeavors in Beijing. The kids are awesome – a hodge-podge ex-pat crowd of middle and high schoolers from all different countries. These guys are so cool because they are able to adapt to new situations and make new friends very easily. They have opened up to me quickly and made me feel needed and included as a part of the group. Though the kids may not realize it, I often feel like I am the one being ministered to instead of the other way around! This is why youth group is so rewarding.

All of the other youth leaders are way beyond cool. You have seen pictures in previous blog postings when we hung out on Chinese New Year and Valentines Day. They all have such clear values and vision for their immediate futures. My values are solid like a rock, but vision? Psshh! I couldn’t even tell you what I will eat for breakfast tomorrow, much less what continent I will be on three months from now...

Anyway, the “Re-Generation” of Friday, March 23^rd, was really cool. Joe Jackson, the youth pastor, gave a good, really deep lesson to the kids and we all had lots of fun besides playing games and hanging out, etc. I went out to eat Italian food afterward with one of Joe’s friends who had come to visit “Re-Gen” that night, and got to talk/defend “religion” with one of Joe’s friend’s friends, Sam. We actually hit it off quite well, and I ended up hanging out with Sam again all afternoon on Sunday!